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Wells L. Wescott's World War 2 Genealogical Information |
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The picture of Merle Brinkman on the left and Wendell Pirtle was taken after they were the first to completed 30 missions along with another crew in the squadron. They flew a mission with another crew, there crew was standby for any crews that were short. |
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Back row on the left is Merle Brinkman, and on the right is Wendel D. Pirtle, in the Front row is Wells L. Wescott; October 14, 2000 |
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The "Bugs Bunny" crew Top Row from Left to Right: Jack Bush - ball gunner; Stanley F. Grabowski - top turret; Merle J. Brinkman - radio operator; Harold P. ("Red") Goldman - waist gunner; Wayne M. Egner - engineer; Robert E. Kremer - tail gunner Bottom Row from Left to Right: Wells L. ("Bugs") Wescott - pilot; Wendel D. Pirtle - co-pilot; Theodore Madden - navigator; Sheldon Kohl - bombardier. |
| The 467th was activated on 1 August 1943 and assigned to Rackheath, Norfolk, England on 12 March 1944. The original air echelon comprising fifty-nine crews departed the U.S. from Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, Florida, on 28th February 44 and soon after opened sealed orders to discover the final destination. The route to England would take the crews on the southern ferry route with first stop Trinidad; followed with a take off to Belem, then Natal, Brazil; the southern Atlantic sea-crossing to Dakar, Senegal, then on to Marrakesh, then to Valley airfield Wales before the final and permanent base of Rackheath near Norwich. The complement arrived there on 10 April 1944 and left on 25 April 1945. There were 4 bomb squadrons in the 467th BG (Heavy), Second Air Division, Eighth Air Force, Station 145, they were the 788th, 789th, 790th, and the 791st.
The BUGS BUNNY is mentioned in the HEAVY BOMBERS OF THE MIGHT EIGHTH but without a serial number. There is also a BUGS BUNNY TWO listed. The BUGS BUNNY TWO was a B-24H numbered 42-52530 (which was my fathers plane) and was assigned to the 791st squadrons. My father was the pilot and flew 30 missions between 10 April 1944 and 28 June 1944. It failed to return after a mission on 13 August 1944, suffering from anti-aircraft fire and crash landed near Putanges France. Lt. Charles J. Leyes was the pilot at that time. Eight men were killed in action and two taken prisoners by the Germans. The MACR (missing air crew report) is numbered 7913. Tom Ensminger supplied the following information: ETO usually means European Theater of Operations. ETA is estimated time of arrival, ETD is estimated time of departure. Have sometimes seen ETR (estimated time of return). IP is Initial Point - this is the last turn before the bomb or drop run, from here until the bombs or goods drop the bombardier and navigator control the plane. PFF is Path Finder Flares - it has to do with Path Finding - the guys who went in first and marked the target with flares or smoke. If you are interested in a complete Mission list of the 467th BG (Heavy) check out 467th Bombardment Group (H) - Mission List. Andy Wilkinson has a site for veterans of the 467th Bombardment Group, their family, friends and those with an interest in World War 2 aviation, check it out 467th Bombardment Group Picture Gallery The following information is from my fathers Mission Diary which he kept during World War 2, the page takes awhile to load but the information it contains is worth the wait. |
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Wells L. Wescott Genealogical Information
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This Page was last updated on January 1, 2001 |